The Homeless Letter
Agency: GOSS, Gothenburg, Sweden
Client: Gothenburg Homeless Aid
Product: Charity
Country: Sweden
Background
Christmas was the most important time of year for the Gothenburg Homeless Aid organisation. It was the time when people tend to give more to those less fortunate than themselves than at other times of the year. It was also the time when they hoped to raise most of their funds for the year ahead.
Idea
If it is hard to get people’s attention with Direct Mail, it is even harder at Christmas. Simply to make the letter stand out in the avalanche of Christmas cards and commercial mailings, the agency, let it spend a night out in the streets. Literally. Once the letter had experienced the same wet and cold as the homeless of Gothenburg, then it was posted.
Results
In total, 22% of all recipients donated an average of just over 29 Euro (up on the previous year’s results of 15% of recipients donating an average of 21 Euro). The campaign as a whole raised 163,000 Euro, a lot for a relatively small city.
Synergy Says
This idea dramatises the problem of life on the streets clearly and dramatically. Of all the letters lying on your doormat, which one are you going to look at first?
Yes, the bedraggled, dog-eared one for no other reason than it looks different to all the others. As John Caples noted in “Tested Advertising Methods” over seventy years ago, if you can’t appeal to people’s self-interest, appeal to their sense of curiosity. The other thing this mailing does is trigger a cognitive response. You hold it in your hands and simply can’t help but imagine what it must be like to have to spend the night out in the rain and the cold.
So simple, so powerful, so very successful.
Creative Team
Copywriters: Elisabeth Berlander, Ulrika Good, Michael Schultz
Art Directors: Gunnar Skarland, Albin Larsson, Mattias Frendberg, Jan Eneroth, Mimmi Andersson
Graphic Designer: Louise Christiansson
Production Designers: Elin Andreasson, Lena Björklund Henriksson
Account Managers: Anna Troglin, Monica N Persson, Lena Kling
Account Supervisors: Johan Good, Stig Lundstedt, Fredrik Toreskog
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